This invention relates to methods of identifying businesses with potential to achieve superior financial performance, and to the use of such methods in the selection of investments, the management of investment portfolios, the allocation of resources between business units, and the management of businesses.
From about 1980 to the present, of the 21,581 publically listed U.S. companies, there were 8,626 IPOs across all sectors. Of these companies 4,425 are active today, with the difference having been acquired or merged, or having gone out of business. Of these 4,425 companies, 548 achieved over $1 billion revenue since 1980. Of these 548 companies, 451 went public with revenues less than $1 billion. The ability to identify factors that enabled the growth of these top businesses would be useful both in selecting companies for investment, ranking businesses, allocation of resources between businesses; and in managing a business to achieve financial goals. This set defines America's highest growth companies; those companies who went from founding to $1 billion in annual revenue. The set is defined as publically listed companies, active as of November 2004, with the headquarters location and ownership in the United States.